THE TIMES DIARY AT 50 : THE ANTIDOTE TO THE NEWS HC – PATRICK KIDD-TIMES BOOKS

Over the past 50 years, The Times Diary has provided a daily dose of mirth, gossip, innuendo and anecdote from the pens of such writers as Ion Trewin, Michael Leapman, a brace of Corens (Alan and Giles) and Hugo Rifkind. As the custodian of the column since 2013, as well as being The Times’s political sketch-writer, Patrick Kidd presents an anthology of some of the most amusing and diverting stories from the Diary s first half-century. They include the kidnapping of Humphrey, the Downing Street cat; the time that Tony Blair was thrown in prison in New York; Dame Judi Dench s foul-mouthed riposte to a cabbie and how John Major s brother inspired David Bowie; as well as examples from some of the column s long-running series such as Apt Names, Collective Nouns and Jurisprudery.